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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25035334">It's All Very Greek</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flamingbluepanda/pseuds/Flamingbluepanda'>Flamingbluepanda</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Torchwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>ABBA, But this is really fluffy I promised, Character Study, Fluff, Fluff with Angsty Undertones, Gen, Gratutious Amounts of ABBA, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Mamma Mia - Freeform, Mamma Mia! References</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:53:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,505</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25035334</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flamingbluepanda/pseuds/Flamingbluepanda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ianto likes ABBA. They make an ABBA movie. What follows is obvious</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>67</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>It's All Very Greek</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I listened to dinner and a show and they actually *referenced* Mamma Mia in it. There are exactly no "Ianto gets to watch Mamma Mia" fics despite it coming out in July 2008, before his death. </p>
<p>Well. Now there is. </p>
<p>Dedicated to everyone who has contributed to Ianto's canon ABBA obsession</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>At fourteen years old, Ianto had gotten pretty good at nicking things from the shelves at the stores. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was usually something small. A pack of smokes, a candy bar, something he could shove in his pockets and walk out with. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This? This was different. And it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>stupid.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto stared at the rack of CDs, hands clenched so they wouldn’t tremble. The bright colors jumped out at him like a lighthouse. If anyone knew he was doing this, he’d probably end up stabbed and left behind a dumpster.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He thought about Christopher Andrews at school, his lovely soft hair, and how badly Ianto wanted to touch it sometimes. He thought about William Shatner from Star Trek and Cary Grant.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t get it- he </span>
  <em>
    <span>liked </span>
  </em>
  <span>girls, he’d </span>
  <em>
    <span>kissed </span>
  </em>
  <span>girls and enjoyed it. So why was it that his </span>
  <em>
    <span>stupid </span>
  </em>
  <span>brain decided…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before he could second guess himself he faked a stumble, knocking two CDs off the rack. He blurted a loud apology at the cashier, who gave him a disgruntled look before looking back at her magazine. Crouching down Ianto picked up both CDs… and pocketed one. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He slid the Glenn Miller CD back on the shelf and went to buy a bag of crisps for himself. Thank god he wasn’t into that, Glenn Miller was boring as fuck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He left the store without getting a second glance, hands shoved deep in his coat pockets against the February wind. The hard plastic ABBA case bumped against his knuckles, and his shivers weren’t just from the cold.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Years of loud car singing and dancing around in his socks with Lisa (and later Jack) had forced Ianto to admit two things; one, Glenn Miller wasn’t boring, and two, ABBA was probably his favorite band of all time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His friends from the goth scene would be disgusted with him, but Ianto hardly saw the point in limiting yourself to one genre of music. It was like only eating Chinese food forever- pointless, stupid, and eventually boring. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Besides, he’d endured the good-natured ribbing from his friends and boyfriend, and now there was a movie, a goddamn </span>
  <em>
    <span>movie </span>
  </em>
  <span>version of the musical Ianto had daydreamed about seeing since he’d admitted his ABBA obsession. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For Christmas the year before she’d died, Lisa had gotten them two tickets to fly to New York and see Mamma Mia on Broadway. After Canary wharf had happened, Ianto had been too heartbroken and concerned about saving Lisa to go and sold the tickets online for about fifty American dollars apiece. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now, as he bought his tickets to opening night three full weeks in advance, there was nothing stopping him. The rift predictions looked fairly stable, and it wasn’t like Ianto didn’t have the time off saved up. The team would survive without him for one night.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Pierce Brosnan was in this movie. </span>
  <em>
    <span>James Bond himself. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Ianto wasn’t missing this for the world.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t buy a ticket for Jack. Didn’t even ask. Jack would laugh at him if he did- he’d made it abundantly clear that all music post-Rat Pack was crap. Ianto would go and have a splendid time all on his own. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Two days before opening night, the rift spat out hordes of alien bats that hunted in swarms and left only clothing behind. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto had severe bite marks on his arm, Gwen almost died, Owen would now have to live the rest of his undead life with a chunk missing from his leg, and Jack actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>died. But they’d finally gotten rid of them all an hour before the movie was going to start and all that was left was cleaned up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto thought about his tickets, sitting in his email waiting to be printed and handed to an usher. He took a deep breath and set down the tray of coffees he just made. “Alright, I’ll be back to help tomorrow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Owen looked up from the paperwork he was filling out with a glare. “Where exactly are you going?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto flushed, stammering “I have a night off. I scheduled it a week ago.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I was wondering about that,” Gwen said, brow furrowing. “Do you and Jack have plans?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not as far as I know,” Jack said, and Ianto blushed again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, its- it’s just me. I have plans. Alone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hot date?” Owen snarked, and Tosh threw her pen at his head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack’s eyes went hard, and Ianto quickly backtracked “No! No date- I just- I was going to catch a film, that’s all, It’s stupid and I’ll-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait a second,” Owen said, staring at him with a grin. “Were you going to that stupid ABBA movie? On opening night?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto’s ears burned, and Owen burst out laughing. The others scowled at him, but Ianto just ducked his head. He felt like a little kid again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll, er, I’ll go return my tickets. See if I can get a refund,” He muttered sadly, trying to escape, but Jack grabbed his arm before he could go.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ianto, get out of here,” Jack said, eyes soft. “Go see your movie. Seriously. The work will still be here tomorrow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah teaboy, c’mon. I’m just taking the piss,” Owen waved a hand. “Seriously. Go. We won’t touch your archives.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The girls gave him tired smiles, and Ianto felt his heart lighten. He smiled gratefully at them, nodding once and running out. He’d have time to get a good seat, get popcorn </span>
  <em>
    <span>and </span>
  </em>
  <span>catch the coming attractions at this rate.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto arrived at the theater with time to spare, excited, and already humming </span>
  <em>
    <span>one of us. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He gave the usher his ticket, bought a small popcorn and a beer, and gladly went inside to find a good seat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was relaxing, waiting patiently, and enjoying the ambiance when a familiar voice asked “Is this seat taken?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto opened his eyes to look up at Jack, wearing a casual jean jacket and a smile. Ianto blinked, shaking his head. Jack sat next to him and stole a piece of popcorn before Ianto’s brain caught up with his head and he asked “what are you doing here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m gonna watch Mamma Mia with my boyfriend,” Jack said like it was obvious. “I was </span>
  <em>
    <span>going </span>
  </em>
  <span>to buy tickets for us both as a surprise but you beat me to the punch, so I just bought myself one and figured I’d surprise you the night of.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How did you know I bought a ticket?” Ianto asked, then shook his head. “Never mind that actually, that doesn’t answer what you're doing here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I told you, I’m-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You </span>
  <em>
    <span>hate </span>
  </em>
  <span>ABBA.” Ianto accused, and Jack shrugged. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“True. But I like Meryl Streep. Besides, </span>
  <em>
    <span>you </span>
  </em>
  <span>love them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The movie started, and Ianto completely forgot about Jack sitting beside him as he was transported to the beaches of Greece.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After they left the theater, Jack grabbed Ianto’s hand and smiled “wanna grab some dinner?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto nodded. They walked hand in hand to a nearby chip shop, ordering fish and chips and sitting on the chairs outside. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Making Colin Firth gay was a nice touch,” Jack said between bites of food, “if not a little rushed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jack,” Ianto hesitated a moment, “You know that you don’t have to like everything I like, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I know.” Jack swallowed his food. “Not every Hitchcock film is </span>
  <em>
    <span>good, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Ianto.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I take it back, you’re required to like Hitchcock if you want to date me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack laughed loudly, and Ianto smiled at him, dragging his chips through the ketchup. Jack watched him, then said “seriously, why didn’t you invite me? I love musicals, I love hot guys on beaches, and I lo- I care about you a lot. Why wouldn’t I want to go with you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto shrugged. “It just… it feels so dumb, y’ know? I’m a secret agent who hunts aliens. I listen to ABBA and I sleep with my boss and I make coffee and it all feels so…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Weird,” Jack nodded. “Torchwood does that to you. But you in particular… you grew up in a world where being yourself got you killed. I think it’s really brave that you took your life and made it </span>
  <em>
    <span>yours, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Ianto. I really do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is this about me being bi or me liking Sweedish pop music?” Ianto asked dryly, and Jack shrugged. “Both, Neither, what does it matter? You’re you, I like you, I put up with that claptrap you call music and you put up with me kicking you in my sleep. We’re practically married.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto smiled at him, so stupidly in love it </span>
  <em>
    <span>ached. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then he said “Y’know, I stole my first ABBA CD from a shelf that had it placed right next to Glenn Miller. I told myself Glenn Miller was boring.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I like you less now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto laughed. For the next two days Jack would butcher super trouper in the shower, and Owen and Gwen would tease him and Tosh would jokingly insist he had to listen to some techno music now, and Ianto lived amongst people who accepted him and was </span>
  <em>
    <span>happy. </span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Come check me out on tumblr www.flamingbluepanda.tumblr.com</p>
<p>byeeeeee</p></blockquote></div></div>
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